Toledo Council votes 8-4 to raise trash collection fee

3/25/2008

Toledo City Council passed the first hurdle of its budget challenge Tuesday, voting 8-4 to increase the trash collection fee from $5.50 to $7 a month, except for those who recycle who would see their rate drop from $3 to $2. The trash fee would replace the current fee, which raises about $4.8 million a year, but which is set to expire April 30. The current fee is $5.50 a month, or $3 for those who pledge to participate in curbside recycling.

COLUMBUS Seventeen employees of former Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell must return more than $80,000 in bonuses he illegally granted them in late 2006 on his way out the door, the state auditor ordered today. The Ohio attorney general determined (in a 2006 legal opinion) that former Secretary Blackwell was without legal authority to award the bonus and/or severance payments in the manner in which they were awarded, reads the audit released by Auditor Mary Taylor, who, like Mr. Blackwell, is a Republican.

A man was hurt early Tuesday when he crashed a vehicle into a ditch off I-280 near Walbridge Road after he led Lake Township police on a chase that started in Walbridge, authorities said. The man, whose name and condition were not released, was taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, according to Lake Township police.

A pit bull was found shot dead late Monday in Central Toledo, prompting an animal cruelty investigation, authorities said. The dog was found about 9:50 p.m. on a sidewalk near a house on Miles Avenue, near West Bancroft Street. There was a blood trail around the house and in the driveway, Toledo police said.